Musings of a Spotted Cat
by Amos Whirly
Summary: [ONESHOT] Cheetor's thoughts about Optimus, the Axilon, and being the youngest member of the crew.


A/N: It's been ages since I've seen a Beast Wars episode, so I can't guarantee how accurate this is. I've just had this at the back of my mind, and I figured I'd better write it down before it went away. Stupid title.....subject to change.....

**"Musings of a Spotted Cat"**

**Beast Wars**

**By Amos Whirly**

They treat me like I'm just some stupid kid.

And it makes me mad.

I know how to fight.

After all, it was me who got a shot off at Megs.

It was me who spotted Waspinator and realized what they were up to.

It was me.

Not Optimus.

Not Rattrap.

Not Rhinox.

Me.

I listen to what Optimus tells me, not like Rattrap.

I fight when they tell me and retreat like I'm told.

But they still treat me like a kid.

A rookie.

A stupid novice.

I know what I'm doing!

Optimus had pulled me off patrol at the last moment, fearing that I would get lost in my own thoughts and forget to do my duty as I was supposed to. It wouldn't have been so bad, if he hadn't sent Dinobot in my place.

Dinobot.

I still don't really trust him. How can I? He's a Pred. He only joined our side because he thinks we'll beat Megatron. I put on a cheerful face for Optimus. Rattrap gives him enough trouble without me chipping in, but it'll be a long time until I trust Dinobot farther than I can throw him.

I flop in a heap of black-spotted yellow fur on the bed in my quarters. I'm so tired of this. With a rueful expression on my feline face, I glare at my right paw, watching with diminishing interest at how I can make my claws flex in and out. An annoying itch starts tingling in my right ear, and I shake my head wildly.

It was cool at first. I woke up after the Axilon crashed, and the first reflective surface I saw – the CR chamber door – showed me something I never would have expected.

A cheetah.

I was a cheetah!

Because of the tremendous forces given off from the Energon deposits that ran in rough, jagged lines throughout the planet's surface, our superstructures would shut down after only a brief time of exposure. So, the computer isolated genetic sequences of animals that inhabited the planet and integrated them into our transformation codes.

A cheetah.

I could run faster, jump higher, and leap longer than I had ever been able. Being created and functioning for so long on Cybertron, I had never experienced a living world like this planet. Rarely felt green grass beneath my paws, smelled the sweet aroma of blossoming flowers. I had never shivered in a cold wind and had never fainted with the heat of a summer day.

For the first couple of megacycles, it was ultragear. I never wanted to leave. I never wanted to stop running. I found creatures of all shapes and sizes all around me, creatures of a type that I had never before encountered – only heard stories of in legends told by the Maximal elders.

Creatures like those native to the planet where our ancestors, the Autobots, crashed and found help in the human race. But this wasn't that planet. That planet only had one moon, and this world had two.

I've almost lost track of time how long we've been here. It could be a whole stellar cycle, and I wouldn't know it.

My dark mood grows only darker as a chime sounds from the other side of my quarters' door.

"Who is it?" I ask grumpily.

"Let me in, Cheetor," grumbles a deep voice.

I sigh heavily into my forepaw.

"Open," I call out, and the door slides to the side.

Rhinox moves in with the grace of a bulldozer, his shiny green superstructure shining in the lights on the wall.

"What are you moping about?"

"I'm not moping."

"Sure, you're not," Rhinox crosses his massive arms. "And Megs is my great grandmother."

"It's not fair, Rhinox!" I suddenly explode.

"Maybe it's not," Rhinox shrugs, "but neither is life. That's how we ended up here instead of back on Cybertron. But it's not all that bad here. I like it, actually. We don't really have flowers on Cybertron. Nothing like smelling the roses, I say."

"What are you saying, Rhinox?"

"I'm saying, Cheetor," Rhinox leanes over, "that even though you may not think it's fair right now, Optimus has his reasons for not sending you out."

"He doesn't trust me."

"That's not true. You know he trusts you. He wouldn't have requested you for this mission if he didn't."

"I guess that's true. So what am I supposed to do? Just sit here?"

"Of course, not," Rhinox chuckles and moves toward my door. "Go climb a tree. Take a run around the ship. Enjoy being here while it lasts. And trust Optimus. He knows what he's doing."

I nod slowly as Rhinox steps out into the hallway.

He's right.

And I know it.

Optimus had never given me reason to doubt his leadership, even with Dinobot harassing him about his lack of a warrior's nobility and Rattrap accusing him of being cowardly.

Rhinox was right.

"Hey, Rhinox?" I call out before my door slides shut.

"Yes?" his big head shoves back into the light.

"Thanks, Big Green," I offer a smile at him.

He grins broadly.

"Don't mention it," he responds. "Smell a flower for me."

The door slides shut, and I jump off my bed. Immediately sensing movement, the door opens again, and I bolt into the corridor. I find the closest exit, and I leap into the cool of the spring morning.

The wind ruffles through my fur. The blue sky is bright. The sun shines warming rays of white light on to the grass and the trees, filling the air with an earthy smell that sends an excited shiver down to my claws.

So what if Dinobot got to go out on patrol, and I didn't?

I get to play.


End file.
